Dean Smith: Aston Villa cannot be dependent on Jack Grealish
Dean Smith admitted Villa cannot keep being dependent on Jack Grealish after the poor run without their skipper continued with defeat to Tottenham.
Sunday night’s 2-0 home reverse means Villa have won just one of the six matches Grealish has missed due to a shin injury.
The 25-year-old is due to return when Smith’s men host Fulham after the international break but the boss wants other players to step up.
He said: “With Jack you get those little bits of quality which can open up teams and would probably have opened up Tottenham.
“Unfortunately we haven’t had him and at the moment the other players have not taken the opportunity.
“We were excellent at Leeds last month with a superb defensive performance but we didn’t create many chances.
“Players have to play themselves into form. We have a number of players who have shown really good form over the first half of the season and it is not there at the moment.
“We have to help them as coaching staff but they have to regain their form.”
The defeat left Villa 10th in the table and extended their winless run to four matches, their longest of the season.
Carlos Vinicius opened the scoring for the visitors following a mistake by Emiliano Martinez before Harry Kane doubled the lead from the penalty spot, after being brought down by Matty Cash.
Smith said: “Defensively we have been alright and we would have been alright against Spurs but we made two basic errors.
“Emi has made a poor connection on a clearance and Cashy has gone to ground when he shouldn’t have.”
